1. Field of the Invention
This invention relation relates to an information processing apparatus having a character inputting function suitable for use with a reproducing apparatus which reproduces a CD-ROM (compact disk read only memory) of, for example, the XA format.
2. Description of the Related Art
Information processing apparatus such as personal computers and electronic notebook apparatus normally include a keyboard so that various characters can be inputted by manual operation of character keys on the keyboard. For example, in order to input alphabetical characters, character keys corresponding to 26 alphabetical characters from a to z are provided so that any desired alphabetical character can be inputted by manual operation of a corresponding one of the character keys.
By the way, also from the historical reason that information processing apparatus have been developed in the United States, such a keyboard is very frequently constructed as a keyboard for the English language. However, when it is tried to use the keyboard, for example, in a country in which the German language is used, since the German language includes several characters which are not included in the alphabetical characters of the English language, character keys for inputting such characters are required.
Conventionally, one of the following two methods is adopted in order to input the special characters.
According to the first method, the allocation of character keys is modified. In particular, the corresponding relationship between characters and character keys is modified, for example, such that a character other than the alphabetical character a is allocated to a character key on which the alphabetical character a is indicated.
On the other hand, according to the second method, a special key is prepared for a special character so that, when a character key is inputted immediately after the special key has been manually operated, a character different from that which is inputted when the character key is manually operated by itself is inputted.
With the first method, however, since the allocation of the keys is modified, it sometimes occurs that the operator forgets which one of the keys should be operated in order to input a desired character.
Meanwhile, with the second method, another key must be manually operated before a character key is manually operated, and the operator must know in advance which character can be inputted by manual operation of a certain key.
Further, in either case, the keyboard must be put into a specific inputting condition before a character key is inputted. Accordingly, the psychological burden to the user is heavy.